This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
In this week's first $1,000 story, discover how a Seattle hair stylist unofficially sets up shop near comic conventions, charging cosplayers for last minute wig rescues and hair touch-ups. This is a fun one. We're going to emphasize the unofficial nature of it. She does it kind of renegade style without asking for permission. She just goes for it.
And the whole point is to see how she made her first $1,000. That's what we do with this whole segment. How does a side hustler get an idea, take action on it, make $1,000, and then often much more? Often people in this segment go on to make $10,000, $100,000, sometimes well beyond that. But the whole point is to see what is the origin and how can you, our listener, also go from idea to income.
That is in fact the goal of Side Hustle School, to give you lots of ideas, to give you a blueprint, to give you case studies, answer questions and such, but basically kind of steer you along this path of transformation. Because once you can begin to start these kinds of projects, then so much is possible from there. You can scale them. You can grow them. You can learn to start different projects.
You can get out of debt. You can stop being dependent on a day job, even if you love your day job and you want to stay there. Again, all things are possible, but you need to learn these skills. So that's what we do. We teach through storytelling.
And with that in mind, and without further ado, today's feature comes from Sage in Seattle, Washington. Let's hear this cool story from her. I'll be back at the end with a few words of wrap up. I'm Sage, a hairstylist in Seattle who never intended to make money off cosplayers, at least not at first. It all started when my friend, a die-hard anime fan, asked for help styling her wig for a local comic convention.
She wanted elaborate braids inspired by a fantasy warrior and had no clue how to do it herself. After we spent hours wrestling with hairspray and hairpins, she walked into the con looking like she'd stepped out of a manga panel. The real surprise was the buzz. People kept asking who styled her wig, and she started handing them my Instagram handle on the spot. At the next convention, a friend joked, "You should bring your tools and set up shop." I didn't want to rent an official booth too expensive.
I wasn't even sure how well it would go. So instead, I parked myself at a nearby cafe and posted on social media, "Wig styling for cosplayers, DME for location." It felt a bit undercover, but people trickled in. They'd show up with half-finished costumes, sometimes sweaty from rushing to meet a photoshoot deadline. I'd fix stray curls, attach hairpieces, and re-braid undone wigs. I charged around $25 for basic fixes or $40 for detailed updos.
By the end of that weekend, I had made over $600 from just on-the-spot styling, plus a few real hair quick fixes for folks who hurriedly dyed their hair the night before. On social media, I shared before and after shots of cosplayers posing triumphantly with freshly styled wigs. All the likes and follows they piled up. People started asking if I'd be around for future events. My next big win came when I applied the same tactic at a slightly larger con in Portland.
I arrived a day early. I found a small public space near the convention center who posted an updated location pin. And this time, I had about 25 clients over two days. The synergy of timing, a big costume contest on Saturday in word of mouth, it allowed me to clear over $1,000 that weekend, all without officially renting booth space or dealing with the overhead of a vendor's table. It felt a little bit scrappy, but that was part of the charm.
Cosplayers, they would DM me, "I'm on my way, 10 minutes out," and then I quickly sanitized my tools and I'd prep for the next fix. And I learned to keep short sign-up times to avoid chaos. Everyone got a 15-minute slot, occasional breaks for my own sanity. Encouraged by these successes, I'm now looking to go bigger. I've already started planning a trip to the massive comic convention in San Diego next summer.
I don't intend to rent a huge booth there either. I'll likely set up at a nearby hotel lobby, coordinating everything via social media. The overhead remains slow, the demand for wig styling or last-minute hair fixes. It's even higher at a mega con. By building this pop-up presence, I can capitalize on the busiest cosplayer crowds in the country without locking myself in the big vendor fees.
It's not the typical path for hairstylists, but for me, it's been the perfect blend of creativity and hustle. All right, thanks to Sage for telling us about her first $1,000 and beyond. As I noted, I really love the renegade approach. I love the approach of just like, let's figure it out. Let's not go through the process of trying to rent a booth because that's going to be expensive and they're going to have all kinds of added costs as well.
It comes with risk. There's no guarantee of return. There's no guarantee the other way either, but with this way, she's not taking a lot of risk. If you can remove the risk, then it's like, well, why shouldn't I try this? With a lot of things in life, not just side hustling, but life in general, there is a traditional path, a conventional path, and there are multiple alternative unconventional paths and often you're going to be much more successful by finding a different way to do something than by following the traditional path.
Maybe not all the time, but certainly a lot of times. So I love it when we have stories that kind of illustrate that process and hopefully they'll help listeners as well. Thank you for being out there listeners. I really appreciate you. If you have a question or an update about your hustle, www.sidehustleschool.com, there's a notes page for every episode, some resources there, and of course, a new episode comes out every day.
Subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. That's all for now. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. the Onward Project.
